Tag Archives: Azerbaijan

Pakistan hails relations with Azerbaijan

MARCH 14 2015 (The Bulletin) – Pakistan’s president Mamnoon Hussein hailed talks with President Ilham Aliyev in Baku as a milestone in relations between the two countries.

Importantly for Azerbaijan, Mr Hussein underlined Pakistan’s support for Azerbaijan’s stance over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. Armenian-backed rebels have controlled the region since a UN-brokered 1994 ceasefire.

“We’ve always supported Azerbaijan’s stance, which we think is the right one,” he said.
Increasing support for its drive to win back the region of Nagorno-Karabakh is a key foreign policy plank for Azerbaijan.

Trade and diplomatic relations between Azerbaijan and Pakistan are currently light and Pakistan’s main interest is probably in securing much needed energy supplies.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 223, published on March 18 2015)

Azerbaijani court sentences opposition activist to prison

MARCH 17 2015 (The Bulletin) – A court in Azerbaijan sentenced opposition activist Siraj Kerimli to 6 years in prison for drug trafficking. Kerimli’s supporters say the charges have been fabricated as part of a government crackdown on dissidents. The EU and the US have both criticised Azerbaijan for its free speech and human rights’ records.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 223, published on March 18 2015)

Azerbaijan detains 6 for IS activities

MARCH 4 2015 (The Bulletin) – Azerbaijan’s security services said they had detained six men linked to the extremist IS group who planned a string of attacks in the country. The authorities in Azerbaijan have previously said they are worried about the radicalisation of some of its population by IS.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 222, published on March 11 2015)

Azerbaijan increase size of its arms industry

MARCH 4 2015 (The Bulletin) – Azerbaijan will start exporting weapons to Arab countries this year, media reported quoting the Azerbaijani defence industry minister, Yaver Jamalov. The statement is more evidence that Azerbaijan is concentrating on developing its arms industry, particularly machine guns and rifles.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 222, published on March 11 2015)

Azerbaijan wants EU to speed up gas deal approval

MARCH 11 2015 (The Bulletin) – Azerbaijani officials have asked their EU counterparts to speed up the authorisation of Azerbaijan’s purchase in 2013 of a 66% stake in DESFA, Greece’s gas pipeline network, for $423m. The European Commission is investigating the potential takeover for any breeches of competition rules.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 222, published on March 11 2015)

Pakistan leader to fly to Azerbaijan

MARCH 11 2015 (The Bulletin) – Pakistan’s President Mamnoon Hussain was due to fly into Baku for talks with Azerbaijani leader Ilham Aliyev. Media said that several bilateral deals would be signed. Pakistan is looking for extra energy resources and views Central Asia and the South Caucasus as potential suppliers.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 222, published on March 11 2015)

Azerbaijan’s oil production in 2015 will fall

MARCH 11 2015 (The Bulletin) – Oil production in Azerbaijan is likely to drop by around 4% this year to 806,000 barrels per day, media reported quoting senior officials at state energy company SOCAR.

This is more bad news for Azerbaijan which is largely reliant on oil and gas sales for its revenues.

The fall in oil prices has already hit Azerbaijan which has cut government spending and devalued its manat currency.

The main problem for Azerbaijan’s oil production is that output at the BP-led Azeri, Chirag and Guneshli (ACG) is falling. ACG makes up the vast majority of Azerbaijan’s current oil output and only it could knock overall production so substantially.

BP has tried to stem the oil production decline but with limited success. Azerbaijan has put BP under increased pressure to find a solution, so for a senior SOCAR figure to brief the media so early in the year that ACG is likely to miss its targets is telling. Perhaps, Azerbaijan is trying to put BP under more pressure.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 222, published on March 11 2015)

SOCAR plans Eurobond

MARCH 6 2015 (The Bulletin) – Azerbaijan’s state energy company SOCAR plans to issue a Eurobond by the end of March, the company’s CEO Rovnag Abdullayev said. Mr Abdullayev said SOCAR was launching the Eurobond because of the slide in oil prices over the past six months or so which have hit the company’s profits.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 222, published on March 11 2015)

Russia gives top awards to Azerbaijani officials

MARCH 8 2015 (The Bulletin) – Russian President Vladimir Putin awarded the Speaker of the Azerbaijani parliament, Oqtay Asadov, and presidential adviser Ali Hasanov the Friendship Order, one of Russia’s highest civic awards.

Opposition groups in Azerbaijan immediately denounced the award as a crude attempt by Russia to curry favour with Azerbaijan.

Despite rows over energy policy, Azerbaijan has seemingly been shifting its political stance towards Russia over the past few years. The West has accused Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev of cracking down on dissent and free media.

In a comment on Facebook, Natig Jafarli, a senior figure in Azerbaijan’s opposition ReAL movement, said the government was getting closer to Russia.

“Imagine what would have happened if Barack Obama gave an award to opposition leaders. They would have been called betrayers and fifth columnists,” he wrote.
There was no official reaction from Azerbaijan’s government on the awards to Mr Hasanov and Mr Asadov.

The pro-government news website APA reported that they had been “Ogtay Asadov and A. Hasanov is (sic) awarded the order for greatly contributing to the strengthening of friendship and cooperation with the Russia Federation.”
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 222, published on March 11 2015)

Azerbaijani manat devaluation hurts banks

FEB. 25/MARCH 2 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Ratings agencies warned that the 30% devaluation of the Azerbaijani manat last month would hurt the capitalisation of the country’s banks. Fitch said that most of debt held by Azerbaijani banks was in foreign currencies, making it more expensive for them to service.
-ENDS-

(News report from Issue No. 221, published on March 4 2015)